The present invention relates generally to a thermal vision imaging device and system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an autonomous non-permanent installation thermal vision infrared imaging device and system. The device can transmit a thermal vision image wirelessly in real time to an electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, PC using Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth communication protocols.
Transporting people and goods safely during night and at low visibility conditions (fog, smog, low cloud, heavy rain, etc.) is a chronic problem that has not been solved in an efficient manner until now. Moreover, the increase of air traffic and air transport due to affordable fares has intensified the problem. Statistically speaking in Australia 65% of the accidents between a car and a motorbike are due to low visibility while in Europe this is 30% of the total accidents. The main proposed and implemented solution to the problem is to increase the brightness/luminosity of the light source. This could be done either on the vehicle e.g. a car or, on the transport network e.g. motorway lights. By increasing the light brightness the human eye has the ability to further detect the danger so as to react quicker.
The aforementioned solution even though is widely used has shortcomings because it cannot be used everywhere e.g. weight restrictions on air vehicles, installation and maintenance costs, operational costs, limited capability under fog, smog, dust, etc. even if the latest technology LEDs are used that increase visibility by 400 m in average. With the recent and forecast increase in air traffic and air travel it is anticipated that incidents and accidents may also increase. According to FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) in 2016 around 1500 incidents/accidents occurred due to low visibility conditions, while in Europe the number of incidents was around 5000 between 2005 and 2011. The main reasons for the aforementioned incidents besides poor visibility conditions were also technical issues that put the light systems of an airport or an airstrip out of order. Unserviceable light systems present more severe problems for remote airport/airstrip where the risk of collision with animals is rather high. When such collisions occur loses may not only include damaged vehicles and goods but also human lives.
Maritime accidents usually don't include the loss of human lives but the cost of the damages is rather high. It has to be noted that maritime accidents do happen even with vessels that have state of the art electronic equipment including passive and active radars. Moreover, the cost of installing, maintaining and operating such systems is quite substantial therefore small and/or medium size vessels are not equipped with. Finally, when it comes to personal usage, the low autonomy and the high weight of a high luminosity system make it difficult to use, while the use of GPS even though it is widely used it requires a connection with a minimum number of active satellites.
One of the proposed solutions for manned air vehicles is the use of night vision goggles that enhance/amplify the existing light of the moon and/or the stars. The shortcoming of the night vision goggles besides that they need a minimum intensity light source to operate is that the cockpit panel has to be modified accordingly.
Moreover, the horizontal vision is severely impeded with the maximum being 20° and also the 3D perception of depth is distorted making thus difficult to estimate the distance of objects, terrain, vehicles and humans.
An alternative solution to the problem is to use thermal vision infrared (IR) cameras. The IR cameras are capable of displaying the temperature difference of objects with temperature above −273° C. either in grayscale or in colour. The IR systems have been widely and have a lot of operational advantages however they usually require dedicated display monitors, specialised complex permanent installation and maintenance making them cost ineffective for wide spread use.
The following web publications relate generally to the above described background of the invention.
https://www.faa.gov/airports/runway safety/statistics/regional/?fy=2016.
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/world_report/visibility_en.pdf
http://www.volvotrucks.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/VTC/Corporate/Values/ART%20Report%202013_150dpi.pdf
https://books.google.gr/books?id=CuTGXLBSEZYC&pg=PA323&dq=low+visibility+car+accident+europe&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinseW5zcnUAhVHVBQKHdTPAScQ6AEIJjAA